


As You Fall

by parcequelle



Category: Teachers (UK TV)
Genre: F/F, Ficlet, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-02
Updated: 2018-02-02
Packaged: 2019-03-12 15:18:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13550055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parcequelle/pseuds/parcequelle
Summary: 'Shut up and give me a smoke.'





	As You Fall

**Author's Note:**

> Written months ago for fanchonmoreau's prompt ('It's just me') and never crossposted, so here it is!

‘It’s just me,’ Jenny calls through the keyhole, and then knocks once, redundant but polite (sort of).

Behind the door, in the empty bath with her feet dangling over the rim, Susan sighs out a puff of smoke and replies, ‘Oh, is it? What a shame, I’d so hoped it would be _Alec_ who’d come to babysit.’

‘Susan.’ Jenny knocks again and then tries the door; it’s open, and she at least makes a show of poking her head around it for a respectful couple of seconds before she comes in, shuts it behind her, leans against it. ‘He’s gone now.’

‘I’d gathered,’ Susan drawls. ‘Otherwise you wouldn’t be here, would you?’ At Jenny’s look – a little bit sorry, a little bit disappointed, a little bit you’re-acting-like-Kurt-so-stop – Susan sighs again and says, ‘I’m sorry. I’m in a mood.’

‘Really?’ Jenny smirks at her. ‘I’d never have guessed.’

‘Shut up,’ Susan says, almost smiling. ‘Tosser.’

Jenny pushes herself off the door and strides over, surprising Susan by gesturing at her to shove up and then climbing into the bathtub beside her. ‘Comfy,’ she says, dry, after a moment. They stare across at the toilet, directly in their line of sight. ‘Great view, too. I can see the appeal.’

Susan leans her head back against the tiles and says, ‘I really am sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m not usually this much of a wanker, am I?’

‘Not usually. I think you’ve been spending too much time with Simon.’

Susan looks at her. ‘Jenny, why am I being such a wanker?’

‘Because you think Alec’s a wanker and you believe in giving what you get,’ Jenny says, and Susan cocks an eyebrow at her.

‘Pop psychology at half twelve on a schoolnight? Really?’

‘I’m not the one hiding out in the bathroom, don’t look at me.’

‘Well,’ Susan says, eyeing her crumpled suit trousers, ‘you are a bit.’

Jenny laughs. ‘Shut up and give me a smoke.’

Susan does as she’s told, slides the fag between Jenny’s lips and then leans forward to set it alight with her own. It takes a moment to spark, a moment when Jenny’s eyes are huge and dark and close and full of something that requires too much thought for a Tuesday, but then it does, and they both shift back. Jenny takes a long drag, and the elegant line of her throat falls back as she blows the smoke up to the ceiling.

‘I like Alec, you know,’ she says, almost thoughtfully, after a moment. Susan makes a face. Trust Alec to ruin everything even when he’s not in the room. She doesn’t respond, though, and Jenny turns to her, smiles. ‘I like you more, though.’

‘’Course you do,’ Susan says. ‘I’m better than he is.’ Then she laughs, because Jenny’s words are light but her expression is almost… Susan doesn’t know, but laughter seems the only appropriate response. ‘Should we get out sometime, d’you think?’

Jenny tilts her head back against the tiles too, right next to Susan’s. Susan feels a whisper of hair against her cheek. ‘Sometime,’ Jenny says, voice lazy and hazy with unfamiliar smoke. ‘But not just yet.’

A moment passes, during which Susan has time to notice that actually, porcelain is bloody hard on the arse, and then something makes her open her mouth and say, ‘I like you too, you know.’ 

Jenny turns her head and smiles and says, ‘Oh, I know.’ They sit there, cold and uncomfortable, until midnight rolls around, and then they help each other out, clean their teeth, say goodnight.

By morning and the obnoxious blaring of her alarm, Susan still hasn’t figured out what Jenny meant by it, but she will. She teaches psychology, after all.


End file.
